States Lag in ELL Curriculum Guidance

Despite a 5-year-old federal requirement that they create English-language proficiency standards for children who are new to the language, most states—including some with the largest numbers of English-language learners—have yet to give local school districts assistance in how to translate those standards into a curriculum.

The lack of detailed guidance and workshops on how to create a curriculum for English-language learners means that districts often are on their own in figuring out how to use the new standards in the classroom. And it has led to criticism in places such as California, where the state board of education expects schools to base instruction for such students on the state’s regular English-language arts standards.

A few states—notably Massachusetts and Florida—are producing or already have provided detailed, official guidance for the local educators on how to write a curriculum aligned with the English-language proficiency standards states must create under the federal No...